Recessed lighting systems are commonly used indoors to provide the effect of light shining through a hole in a ceiling or wall. Recessed lighting systems generally include a light fixture installed in a ceiling or wall recess. Depending on the desired illumination scheme, the light fixture is typically configured to provide either direct lighting or indirect lighting.
Direct lighting involves casting light primarily in one direction to illuminate an individual object (e.g., a painting, a table, a kitchen counter, etc.) or limited portion of a room, or even for general illumination purposes. A can light is one example of a recessed lighting system incorporating a direct lighting light fixture. While direct lighting tends to be very efficient, it tends to create glare and shadows and therefore is typically not used for illuminating a large area or an entire room.
Indirect lighting, on the other hand, provides more diffuse lighting and is suitable for illuminating large areas. Indirect lighting involves bouncing light off a reflective surface, thereby redirecting and/or scattering the light to various portions of a room. While indirect lighting reduces glare and provides generally uniform luminance levels, it can be inefficient and uneconomical since at least some of the light is absorbed by the reflective surface. Moreover, because of its diffuse nature, indirect lighting is generally not suitable for spotlighting an individual object.
Some known sources of indirect lighting have been created with decorative patterns to enhance the architecture of a space. While such decorative patterns do not affect the aesthetic value of the provided indirect lighting, they do affect the efficiency of the indirect lighting, thereby further exacerbating the inefficiency of indirect lighting.
The present disclosure sets forth various recessed light fixtures embodying advantageous alternatives to existing recessed lighting systems and that may address one or more of the challenges or needs mentioned above.